Talk:What It's Like/@comment-4078039-20140313190901/@comment-3575890-20140314123314
I respectfully disagree, GEGI. I do not for a single second buy that Zig didn't have legitimate feelings for Tori. For the majority of their time together, he seemed extremely into her. In fact, he saw Maya as nothing but his go-to buddy when he needed advice to move his relationship with Tori along. He barely paid any attention to Maya at all, and when he did, it was always as his good 'ole buddy and relationship savior. The proof is completely in the pudding that any romantic feelings he had for Maya didn't come until a later point in that he had no reaction when Maya first started dating Campbell. Didn't even bat an eyelash or signify any sign of jealousy, which he very well would have if he had been the slightest bit envious because let's face it, Ziggy is about as subtle as a shovel to the face. But we didn't see him boaring holes into the back of Campbell's head back then and it can be safely concluded that the reason for that is because Zig did not yet have feelings for Maya and was perfectly content with Tori. He went so far as to steal in his belief that it was the only way he could elongate his relationship with her, wrote and performed a song for her to show her how much she meant to him, and even racked up the courage to tell her he loved her. Needless to say, it's hard to buy into your thesis that he's always had feelings for Maya and felt nothing substantial for Tori when all of the evidence in both his words and his actions prior to Doll Parts voices otherwise. Zig is fickle. Much like Craig, he has a wandering eye. He is drawn to what he cannot have and eventually loses interest in what he does have. Practically with the snap of two fingers, his interest in Tori evaporated into thin air in favor of Maya and what was the crux of this sudden change of heart? A dress and heels. Yes, the big epiphany of that he should be with Maya and not Tori was brought on by seeing Maya as more than one of the guys, which required her to completely change her image. If this doesn't show that Zig is shallow, I don't know what does. This fickleness does not bode well for Zaya because if the slightest thing such as a dress can sway Zig's heart in less than a span of two days, there is no reason to think it won't happen with Maya once another pretty face in a dress happens along. Zig's interest in one specific girl seems to come with an expiry date. One moment he's head over heels for you, and the next he's shoving his tongue down your best friend's (who he never showed any interest in prior to now) throat. I could not possibly disagree more with your contention that Matlingsworth bring the worst out of each other. If anything, it's the opposite, but especially in Miles. Let's touch on Maya first though. I will agree that she hasn't been her best this season with some of the things she's done, but in the instances where she's acted out, Miles has had nothing to do with it. Who ultimately brought the worst out of Maya for the first two blocks was Zoe and understandably so considering all that Zoe did to her. Every misguided act of Maya's came from the same Matlin fire that once prompted her to, when she was just this little pipsqueak of a ninth grader, throw her chicken cutlet at a senior thrice her size. Even as far back as her shy, timid days, Maya Matlin has always been a spitfire and this season is no exception. She will not stand for being mistreated nor will she hesitate to retaliate. Miles did not make her this person. As for Miles, Maya brings the absolute best out of him. We've seen it a million times over - when he got her backstage so she wouldn't be stranded outside, when he gave her - a complete stranger to him - his credit card so she could get home safely, when he comforted her to the best of his abilities when she was fretting over Tristan's whereabouts in Paris to then walk back alone in the pouring rain without the shelter of his umbrella, and that's only the tip of the iceberg, my friend. Maya has a powerful hold over Miles like no other. She inspires him to want to be a better person. He cannot stand when she thinks less of him. It gets under his skin and eats away at him, and it is that very sensation of feeling inadequate and not good enough that causes him to look back on his fuck ups, understand where he went wrong, and learn from them. Rectify them. Yes, Miles has fucked up, though probably not anymore than he normally does - he's a very self-destructive boy - but there has not been one fuck up he hasn't owned up to where Maya is concerned. Maya is good for Miles because she doesn't enable his self-destructive ways. She isn't afraid to give him a good kick in the pants when he needs to be kicked down a few notches. She calls him out on his shit, challenges him, teaches him valuable lessons that no one has ever bothered to before, and comforts him when he's hurting. If I'm going to be honest, I'm sick of that one brief instance that he called Maya a slut in the heat of the moment and then regretted it after he'd had time to cool off always being used against him. How is that any worse than some of the things Zig did? But not even that is the point, which is that Miles did not mean it to begin with. He has NEVER thought that way of Maya. In fact, if anything, he has her on a bit of a pedestal; thinks the world of her and lashed out at her in the first place because he believed her to be so much more than the image she was projecting of herself in her video. Of course, it also came from a place of hurt, anger, and yes, jealousy - all emotions that tend to bring out the most primal and vindictive sides out of us. But the principle of the matter is that he soon after realized how wrong he was, was genuinely remorseful, and not only apologized, but took his apology a step further by acknowledging the double standard society inforces between men and women about sex. On the flip side, the last encounter we'd seen between Zaya consisted of Zig mistreating Maya by icing her out and mocking and mortifying her in front of their classmates, then blowing up at her when she had the audacity to defend herself against his jabs. Have we once seen him apologize for that or even show a shred of remorse for it? No. In fact, Maya ended up apologizing to him and not only did he refuse to accept her heartfelt apology despite that he was the one that antagonized her in the first place, but he told her he hated her and proceeded to mistreat her in front of the rest of the remedial room kids for the remainder of their interactions. At least when Miles fucks up, he owns up and apologizes. I honestly don't know where you get this idea that Miles doesn't love Maya. If he was blindly in love with the idea of being in love and easily susceptible to tricking himself into thinking he's in love when he's not, he would have thought he was in love with Zoe. It is clear that Miles has never had a real, genuine relationship with anyone other than Maya. Given his long history of meaningless flings and initial preference for no-strings attached type of relationships, I think the last thing he ever wanted or expected was to fall in love. Certainly, when he first met Maya, a loving committed relationship was not what he had in mind, but the closer she got, the harder it became to shake her and once he realized it had become more than just a conquest, he pushed her away. The intensity of his feelings for her coupled with his fear of yet again being rejected and hurt by her scared and overwhelmed him ("Zoe has this crazy idea that I'm into you."). This argument that he doesn't care about Maya at all, let alone isn't in love with her, (which he clearly is) is rather baseless when every action of his since the very moment he met Maya tells an entirely different story. Because of their experiences, Miles and Maya are the last two people on the planet to say those those three words lightly. By the way they rolled off Miles' tongue before he could even process what he'd said and the way Maya froze and took a moment to ponder before reciprocating his words back to him indicating that she would not have just said it back for the sake of saying it, offers a clear indication that saying those three words to each other was a very big deal for the both them, and they would not have said them if they had not meant them. I respect your viewpoint, GEGI, but I see it the very opposite. I believe Zaya is nothing more than a bump in the road for Matlingsworth or at the very least another Maya pairing, because Zig is not it for her and I don't think he was ever meant to be. If he was, the writers wouldn't keep showing him as second best in Maya's heart. The only time she ever shows any romantic interest in him at all is when she's vulnerable and desperately seeking a release. Zig is a rebound much like how Jake was to Clare and Imogen was to Eli. If Zaya does happen, and I'm sure at some point it will, I don't see them becoming more than a plot device to further another Maya or Zig pairing. I see them receiving the old Imogeli treatment. They give it a try, realize they're better as friends, and resume their love lives with those they truly belong with. If I may ask, exactly how is Matlingsworth rushed when they danced around their feelings for each other for an entire block, and didn't become an official couple until the end of the next block? In a seven-month time span, they went from acquaintances, to enemies, to friends, to lovers, and the transition in between each respective relationship stage was gradual and fluid. Zaya, on the other hand - at least on behalf of Zig's end - went from platonic to romantic in the span of ONE DAY. They, if anything, lack development and build up. Zig's feelings for Maya literally came from out of nowhere. Before Doll Parts, he never visibly showed any interest in Maya at all nor a shred of jealousy towards Campbell. Chemistry is subjective, my friend. Just as you see no chemistry between Matlingsworth, I see electric sparks between them that I've never seen with any other Maya pairing. Not even Camaya, my most preferred Maya pairing, quite had the sexually charged energy that I see with Matlingsworth. And if I'm going go be honest, I have never seen a fraction of chemistry between Zaya. Even when I shipped them, the hardest I ever shipped them was actually when I was preshipping them, and once I saw them in action, I was extremely underwhelmed. In terms of the chemistry, UST, dynamic, and development I had so hoped for, they did not deliver on any of those fronts, which is why it was so easy to jump ship the moment Campbell came into the picture. I respectfully disagree with your notion that Miles will respond well to a break up. Because Maya is obviously the first girl that Miles has ever had real feelings for, I see a breakup hitting him HARD, and by that, I mean comparative to s10 post-break up Eli. Miles is so emotionally invested in Maya at this point, that a break up would likely shatter him. Much like how Eli came to base his entire world around Clare and went off the rails after Clare broke up with him the first time, I forsee the very same fate for Miles. In fact, it's all been leading up to a big emotional meltdown for Miles that we've all known was coming since the first episode of the season, and mark my words, Maya will be a factor in it. She has an emotional affect over him like no other. Even before he was in love with her, and simply just infatuated with her, she had the ability to hit him where it hurt. There was no mistaking that flicker of hurt in his eyes every time she'd harshly shut him down in 13A. Even back then in the earliest stage of the relationship, she was under his skin. And now he's so much more invested and in love with her - the fall out of a break up is going to be BAD. This last fight they had serves to show just how invested Miles is. He couldn't concentrate on the big game because she was mad at him. In order to reconcile with her, he ends up swallowing his pride and does something he normally would never do for another girl, which is serenade her in front of the whole student body - something he really wasn't very thrilled about doing, but did anyway because he was desperate for her forgiveness. It goes without saying that Miles has been falling apart at the seams since the very beginning of this block (if not before that) with nothing but his love for Maya holding him together. He himself vocally attests to that. ("None of this family stuff matters because I have you.") As far as Miles is concerned, Maya is this one lone shimmer of light left in his otherwise dreary life that represents optimism, inspiration, and hope that everything will be okay. Notice how before he met her, he was well headed down a similar path to Campbell, but since he's met Maya, he's lighter, happier, and first and foremost - hopeful life will get better. In his eyes, she's all that matters. Losing her will hit him harder than a ton of bricks because before Maya, he's never experienced the sensation of being cared for and loved unconditionally, and now that he knows how it feels - what it is like to be loved and accepted just as he is - he'll be left with an even larger void in his heart than he had before.